Roger G. Dunham

Interactive Police-Citizen Encounters that Result in Force

The behavior of officers and suspects during encounters is influenced by the actions, comments, and demeanor of the other actor. The present study looks at the interactive context of police-citizen encounters that result in the use of force. The results of the study show that police-citizen encounters are not only interactive but also asymmetrical with respect to authority. Police use- offorce interactions with civilians are more likely to involve greater levels of force by the police relative to the level of suspect resistance when a suspect appears to have less authority relative to the police officer. During an encounter, police and citizens interpret and decide how to respond to each other. This interpretive process can shape the outcome of an encounter and is an important link to the understanding of police behavior.

A Management Tool for Evaluating Police Use of Force: An Application of the Force Factor

Collecting and using data on police use of force is a complex issue. The process the authors suggest applies the force factor methodology to understanding police use of force relative to suspect resistance in interactive and sequential encounters. Agencies that adopt the force factor approach will learn about their officers, supervisors, and encounters with the public they serve. Although this process is fairly complex and may be difficult to implement, it will provide important information to agencies and the public.

Police use of force: examining the relationship between calls for service and the balance of police force and suspect resistance

Abstract Over the past decade, the use of force by the police has become an important public policy concern and topic of social science research. A number of researchers hypothesized about the factors that explain the amount of force used by police officers. Prior research focused almost exclusively on the highest level of force used in police–citizen interactions and neglected to examine the relative amount of forced used by the police compared to that used by suspects. To address this shortcoming, this study analyzed data from three years of official use-of-force reports in the Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD). Contrary to studies that examine only the use of force by the police, this study found that the relative amount of force used by the police was greatest in the less threatening types of offenses. The implications of this study for research and policy are discussed.

Transforming Citizens into Suspects: Factors that Influence the Formation of Police Suspicion

The present study examines the formation of police suspicion and the mental processes and decisions officers make prior to stopping and questioning citizens. Furthermore, the authors include a brief discussion of the outcomes of stops made. The authors use both quantitative and qualitative data drawn from an observational study of police decision making in Savannah, Georgia. The reasons officers gave for becoming suspicious of citizens were coded into four categories: appearance, behavior, time and place, and information. The results do not support the speculation that it is during this prestop stage in the officers’ decision making when major levels of discrimination take place. However, the authors did uncover some stops based on nonbehavioral criteria, which are potentially problematic. The implications of these findings for understanding police decision making during the prestop stage of the decision-making process are discussed.

Policy and Training Recommendations Related to Police Use of CEDs: Overview of Findings From a Comprehensive National Study

The authors report the policy and training recommendations derived from a comprehensive national study that examined conductive energy device (CED) use, resulting injuries, departmental policies and training, and reports from officers, trainers, and suspects concerning CED incidents. The overall purpose of the national project was to examine CED use from a variety of methods. Although the specific analyses and findings from each of the different methodologies are published separately, the authors integrate the findings of the various components of the study, and from the general literature, into a comprehensive set of policy and training recommendations. This article helps us understand how and why injuries occur to police and citizens during these use-of-force events and recommends a comprehensive set of policies and principles for training police officers on CED use. The major conclusions address not only the importance of CEDs to law enforcement but also the potential for abuse of CEDs by the police, and how such abuse can be avoided.

The Influence of “Working Rules” on Police Suspicion and Discretionary Decision Making

This study examines the role of “working rules” that define what officers interpret as suspicious people, places, and situations. Data were drawn from observational studies of police decision making in Savannah, Georgia and Miami-Dade, Florida. Current theory and research on the use of police discretion and biased policing is focused on the decision to stop, search, or arrest a suspect. Only a few studies focus on processes through which police determine behaviors to be suspicious that influence them to initiate official police action. An analysis of the “working rules” used by officers uncovered 12 substantive categories. The article concludes with a discussion of how this information can be useful in formulating training for police departments.

Prejudice in Police Profiling Assessing an Overlooked Aspect in Prior Research

Social science analyses of racial profiling in the context of discretionary police stops and subsequent interrogations have tended to rely on a framework dictated by federal case law, namely, they have focused on disparate impact by race as the basis for deeming profiling discriminatory. Significantly, neglected in profiling studies have been considerations of the role of prejudice. Analogizing to profiling about the sources of prejudice, activators of prejudice, and legitimacy gained from acting on prejudice, among key decision makers in other institutional domains—namely, employers in the workplace and brokers/landlords in the housing market—the authors maintain that prejudice is a source of profiling. In addition, the authors discuss how identifying the prejudicial roots of profiling enhances one’s ability to both judge its propriety and understand the scope of racial prejudice in America. The authors offer suggestions for future research that sheds additional light on the link between racial prejudice and profiling.

Toward a Better Benchmark: Assessing the Utility of Not-at-Fault Traffic Crash Data in Racial Profiling Research

As studies on racial profiling and biased policing have begun to proliferate, researchers are debating which benchmark is most appropriate for comparison with police traffic stop data. Existing benchmark populations, which include populations estimated from census figures, licensed drivers, arrestees, reported crime suspects, and observed drivers and traffic violators, all have significant limitations. This article offers a new, alternative benchmark for police traffic stops, a benchmark that has not been previously applied or tested in a racial profiling research setting. The analysis presented compares traffic observation data, gathered at selected, high volume intersections during an ongoing racial profiling study in Miami-Dade County, Florida, to not-at-fault driver demographic data from two-vehicle crashes at those same intersections. Findings indicate that non-responsible drivers in two-vehicle crashes appear to represent a reasonably accurate estimate of the racial composition of drivers on the roadways at selected intersections and within areas of varying racial composition. The implications of this finding for racial profiling research are discussed, and suggested areas for future inquiry are identified.

Race, within-family social capital, and school dropout: An analysis of Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians

This study uses data from the National Educational Longitudinal Survey to assess whether the dynamics of social capital, namely, their sources in class background and consequences for dropout operate uniformly among Whites, African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian adolescents. Findings indicate that varying levels of social capital across groups are explained largely by their respective standing in the class structure. However, the effects of social capital on dropout vary across ethnic groups. Specifically, Whites and Asians get greater “returns” to social capital than African Americans and Hispanics in terms of reducing the likelihood of dropping out. The contribution of the findings regarding differential returns toward uncovering the sources of the intergenerational transmission of racial stratification is discussed. In addition, “supply” (e.g., oppositional culture) and “demand” (neighborhood effects, school-based evaluation practices) side factors that may explain the differential returns are identified. Suggestions for future research to improve our understanding of the sources of social capital and its consequences for dropout are offered.

Reluctant referrals: The effectiveness of legal coercion in outpatient treatment for problem drinkers

An annoying paradox which has been facing policy-makers and practitioners alike in their efforts to deal with public problem drinkers is that of recognizing the condition of alcohol-related offenders as both a misdemeanor and a disease. This paradox is discussed in terms of a legal model and a therapeutic model for responding to alcohol-related problems. A multivariate covariance model is used to compare the effectiveness of treatment for problem drinkers coerced into treatment by the courts and problem drinkers voluntarily initiating treatment, while statistically controlling for pre-treatment group differences. With regards to effectiveness, and the role played by an element of coercion in effectiveness, type of referral did have an important independent impact upon treatment outcome. An element of coercion involved in that referral did not subvert the goals of the therapeutic model; indeed, it rendered successful treatment outcome considerably more likely than with strictly voluntary self-referral. Finally, coercion proved somewhat more effective where the penalties for non-compliance were the more certain, not necessarily the more severe.